DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do my best to honor every word. Now, some men leave a mark on a place, and some places leave a mark on a man. William Henderson Maltby managed both — and the story of how he got there is something worth slowing down for.
He was born in Worthington, Ohio, on March 14, 1837. Ink was in his blood early. By 1859, he was working as a typesetter for the Cleveland Herald — setting other people's words in type, one letter at a time, by hand.
That same year, his older brother Henry started publishing a paper called the Ranchero, way down in Corpus Christi, Texas. And William? Well, William left Cleveland.
You can imagine the pull of it — a brother, a new town, a newspaper just getting its legs. The brothers took up in a boarding house in Corpus Christi, and that boarding house turned out to be where William met a woman named Mary Grace Swift. They married on July 15, 1860.
The future, at that moment, must have looked like nothing but possibility. Then the Civil War began. Maltby earned the rank of lieutenant of an artillery battery and later rose to captain.
His unit became Company I of the Eighth Texas Infantry Regiment, and they were posted to defend Aransas Pass. On November 17, 1863, Union forces captured Maltby's entire battery. Every last one of them.
Now here's the part that'll make you set down your coffee. Maltby found himself a prisoner of war in Vicksburg, Mississippi. And in Vicksburg, his other brother — Jasper — was serving as a Union brigadier general.
Two brothers, same war, opposite sides, same city. The marker doesn't tell us what that reunion looked like, and maybe it's better that way. Maltby was eventually exchanged and released.
He returned to Corpus Christi, where Mary Grace was waiting — along with a child born during his absence, a child he was meeting for the first time. He became publisher of the Corpus Christi Advertiser. The pieces of a life, reassembling themselves.
Then 1867 arrived, and with it, a disastrous yellow fever epidemic. It swept through the community and claimed the lives of at least 150 residents. Mary Grace was among them.
Maltby remarried in 1870 — Anna Marie Headen — and together they had three children, in addition to the two from his marriage with Mary Grace. He kept working. In 1877, Maltby and a man named Eli T.
Merriman established the Corpus Christi Free Press, which went on to become the forerunner of the Corpus Christi Caller. He stayed in the newspaper business, the only life he'd ever really known, right up until his death on August 20, 1880. A typesetter's boy from Ohio, who set type, set roots, survived a war, survived loss, and left behind a paper that's still echoing.
That's William Henderson Maltby.
What the marker says
Born in Worthington, Ohio, on March 14, 1837, William Henderson Maltby served as a journalist and newspaper publisher for three Corpus Christi newspapers. While living in Cleveland, Maltby worked as a typesetter for the Cleveland Herald in 1859. That same year, his older brother, Henry, began publishing the Ranchero in Corpus Christi. Soon after, William left Cleveland to assist his brother with this newspaper. The brothers lived in a boarding house where William met his wife, Mary Grace Swift. They married on July 15, 1860. When the Civil War began, Maltby earned the rank of lieutenant of an artillery battery and later became its captain. This unit became Company I of the Eighth Texas Infantry Regiment and defended Aransas Pass. Union forces captured Maltby's entire battery on November 17, 1863. Now a prisoner of war, Maltby found himself in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where his other brother, jasper, served as a union brigadier general. After being exchanged and released, Maltby returned to Corpus Christi and reunited with Mary Grace and their child born during his absence. Soon after, Maltby became publisher of the Corpus Christi Advertiser. A disastrous yellow fever epidemic swept the community in 1867, claiming the lives of at least 150 residents including Mary Grace. Maltby remarried Anna Marie Headen in 1870 and the couple had three children in addition to the two from Maltby's previous marriage with Mary Grace. In 1877, Maltby and Eli T. Merriman established the Corpus Christi Free Press, which became the forerunner of the Corpus Christi Caller. Maltby continued to work in the newspaper business until his death on August 20, 1880. (2017)